Kunihiro Kimura's Research Interestsi04/02/12j

1. Quantitative Analysis of Social Attitudes and Beliefs about Social Stratification

I explore the mechanisms or processes that form social attitudes and people's beliefs about social stratification, such as gender ideology (gender/sex role attitides) and perception/feeling of fairness, by quantitative analysis of social survey data.

I focus on

• how an individual perceives the mechanism of social stratification or status attainment,
• how an individual perceives his or her status in the society,
• whether the perceptions of the stratification mechanism and his or her status are based on "self-interest" or on "impartial evaluation," and,
• how an individual's status influences his or her perception and evaluation.

The perspective may be called "cognitive sociology." Although Professor Raymond Boudon, Professor Aaron V. Cicourel, and Professor Eviatar Zerubavel have already proposed "cognitive sociology" independently, I think that my own perspective has affinity with Professor Boudon's. I believe that the development of cognitive sociology in this sense will facilitate collaboration of sociology with other disciplines of Social and Behavioral Sciences, which have already experienced the "cognitive revolution."

I am also interested in methodology of data analysis and methodological issues in data collection, especially methods of categorical data analysis, improvement of social survey methods by utilizing the findings in cognitive science, and "unobtrusive" methods.

2. Mathematical Models of Social Decision Making

2.1 Collective Action and the Group Size

Professor Mancur Olson stated in his seminal book, The Logic of Collective Action, that the larger the size of the group of potential beneficiaries, the less likely the group goal is achieved. I found that his own mathematical model of this phenomenon has deficiencies [Kimura, Kunihiro. 1989. "Large Groups and a Tendency Towards Failure: A Critique of M. Olson's Model of Collective Action." Journal of Mathematical Sociology. 4(4):263-271]. And I constructed and analyzed game theoretical models in order to explain the phenomenon [Kimura, Kunihiro. 1995. "Game Theoretical Formulations of the Olson Problem." International Journal of Japanese Sociology. 4:99-117. Japan Sociological Society]. The interesting propositions derived from these models are as follows: the group size effect is contingent on the nature of the group goal as a collective good and the technology of public supply of the good; there is a kind of group size effect that is different than Professor Olson had in mind. I also examined whether these predictions are supported or not by already existing empirical studies.

The fruit of the study is my book, The Large Number Dilemma: Mathematics of Collective Action and the Group Size (in Japanese), published by Minerva-Shobo in May 2002. I would like to continue to study the problem of collective action and the group size (in other words, the "large number dilemma") and consider the theoretical and empirical issues that I pointed out in the book.

2.2 Applications of Rational Choice Theory

The "large number dilemma" is an example of unintended (or unanticipated) consequences of social action or social decision making. I believe that rational choice theory in a broad sense is a powerful tool in explaining various examples of unintended consequences of social action.

Unfortunately, advocacy and critique of rational choice theory tend to remain on the "meta-theoretical" level. I think that we need to construct "models" of social phenomena or social problems in the real world from the rational choice perspective and assess these models in terms of truth, beauty, and justice. The assessment will contribute to the debate on the significance of rational choice theory in sociology (and in social/behavioral sciences).

And I think that exploration of human "rationality" requires consideration of people's "definition/perception of the situation." In this sense, rational choice theory is closely related to "cognitive sociology" (see Section 1 of this page).

3. Other Interests

I am also interested in other various topics, including

• environmental problems as social dilemmas [Kimura, Kunihiro. 1993. "Perception of Pollution as a Social Dilemma." Journal of Mathematical Sociology. 18(1):81-91 / Kimura, Kunihiro, and Mikiko Shinoki. 2007a "Decision and Justification in the Social Dilemma of Recycling. I. A Two-Stage Model of Rational Choice and Cognitive Dissonance Reduction." Sociological Theory and Methods. 22(1):31-48. / Shinoki, Mikiko, and Kunihiro Kimura. 2007b "Decision and Justification in the Social Dilemma of Recycling. II. Empirical Tests of Predictions from the Model." Sociological Theory and Methods. 22(1):49-69 Japanese Association for Mathematical Sociology.]
• relation between gender discrimination and women's marital decision making [Kimura, Kunihiro. 2000. "Being Unmarried under Sex Discrimination and Inequality within the Sexes: A Simple Model." Sociological Theory and Methods. 15(2):375-382. Japanese Association for Mathematical Sociology / Kimura, Kunihiro. 2010. "Sex-Based Discrimination Trends in Japan, 1965-2005: The Gender Wage Gap and the Marriage Bar." Pp.156-171 in Discrimination in an Unequal World, edited by Miguel Angel Centeno and Katherine S. Newman. New York: Oxford University Press. / Kimura, Kunihiro. 2011. "Gender-Based Discrimination, Inequality and Marriage." Pp.1-14 in Minorities and Diversity, edited by Kunihiro Kimura. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press.]
• and measurement of inequality [Kimura, Kunihiro. 1994. "A Micro-Macro Linkage in the Measurement of Inequality: Another Look at the Gini Coefficient." Quality & Quantity. 28(1):83-97].

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